Wetherspoon pub faces action over under-age drinkers

A PUB where alcohol was sold to underage drinkers during three separate checks by Trading Standards could face sweeping changes to its licensing terms.

The Old Market Hall, on Market Street, Mexborough, was forced to close its doors for 48 hours in April last year after staff twice failed to refuse the sale of alcohol to people under the age of 18.

But just six months later they fell foul of a Trading Standards test purchase operation once again, after serving another underage customer in October.

Now Doncaster Borough Council’s licensing sub-committee are considering stringent changes to the premises’ licensing conditions in an effort to clamp down on the problem.

This week, Nigel Connor, legal representative for J.D. Wetherspoon, who own the premises, admitted that the three test purchase failures meant that the Old Market Hall had one of the worst records for serving underage drinkers in the chain’s history.

He said: “We haven’t had any premises reviewed for failing three test purchases in the past. This is the first time this has happened in the company’s history.”

Last Thursday, Doncaster council’s licensing sub-committee met to consider their options to tackling the persistent problem, but the licence review was adjourned to a later date.

Commenting on possible measures that could be put in place, Mr Connor added: “We are hopeful that we will be able to finalise a series of alterations to our licensing agreement that will make the need for a further hearing of the borough council go away.

“The Challenge 25 policy, whereby anyone who comes into the premises and doesn’t look over the age of 25 could be asked for ID, is one way forward.”

He added: “The Old Market Hall is a well run pub that is popular with locals.

“There are no problems with disorder or underage drinking, it’s just that we have been tested three times and failed on three occasions. Hopefully, in future, we will pass.”